by Jorge L. Ortiz, USATODAY

by Jorge L. Ortiz, USATODAY

CHICAGO -- It was 50 degrees under overcast skies at U.S. Cellular Field before a game this week when the four Cuban-born players on the Chicago White Sox â?? Jose Abreu, Alexei Ramirez, Dayan Viciedo and Adrian Nieto â?? posed for photos behind the batting cage holding the island's flag.

Abreu, who set major league rookie records for most home runs and RBI in April, was wearing short sleeves, apparently as impervious to the chill as his torrid bat. Even Chicago's infamous wind couldn't penetrate through those ball-crushing muscles, right?

Well, it turns out he'd left his jacket behind and couldn't wait to get back in, for the cold weather has proven a bigger challenge than major league pitching. Abreu has a hard time sleeping when it's chilly, and heat from a furnace gives him headaches. Sometimes he'll immerse himself in hot water to get quick relief from a climate that's decidedly foreign to him.

"Never in my life have I had to adapt to the cold. It's tough to deal with,'' Abreu, 27, told USA TODAY Sports in Spanish. "But ever since leaving Cuba my mind-set has been to confront any adversity that comes up. â?¦ I can't wait for the summer to arrive.''

That raises the question of what the slugging first baseman might accomplish once it warms up, and balls fly out of the White Sox's cozy yard.

All Abreu did in April, typically a tough month even for hitters not raised in the tropics, was lead the majors with 10 home runs and 31 RBI (he also had one in March). His .617 slugging percentage and 19 extra-base hits are tops in the American League, and he was the first player ever with four games of at least four RBI in his first 26 games.

"He hasn't heated up yet,'' said Nieto, a rookie catcher who grew up in Miami and along with the other Cubans has helped Abreu adjust to his new surroundings. "When the weather warms up, that's when you're going to see a real beast.''

The stunning debut by a player few knew before this season puts Abreu in line to match Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig â?? his former Cuban league teammate and once a close friend â?? as the only major leaguers to earn Player of the Month honors in their first month.

Abreu's stellar international career with the Cuban national team and his cartoonish numbers in the island's Serie Nacional â?? where he batted .453 with 33 homers in 66 games in 2010-2011 â?? foreshadowed a measure of success in the majors.

But some scouts were not convinced he could handle top-notch fastballs, believing he would mostly feast on mediocre pitching. He may well do that, but it's worth noting Abreu homered off former Cy Young Award winners Justin Verlander and David Price. He also went deep off hard-throwing right-handers Danny Salazar and Chris Archer.

Such feats have eased concern about general manager Rick Hahn's six-year, $68 million investment in Abreu - the largest contract in White Sox history. And Abreu's production seems far from a fluke.

"I don't think he's somebody that you look at and say, 'Oh, he just had a hot April,''' said Verlander, who gave up a 435-foot blast to Abreu the first time they met but has also struck him out three times in six at-bats. "He's extremely talented. You have to execute your pitches. Otherwise, he can hurt you at any time.''

The Tampa Bay Rays felt the pain last weekend, when game-time temperatures in Chicago ranged from 39 to 66 degrees. In a four-game series that ended Monday, Abreu feasted on the Rays for seven hits in 17 at-bats, with three home runs and 11 RBI as the White Sox won three.

On Friday, with the White Sox down to their last out, Abreu hit a walk-off grand slam off closer Grant Balfour for a 9-6 victory.

Left-handed starter Cesar Ramos had the most success among the Rays pitchers, getting Abreu to ground out thrice in a 4-0 win Saturday, and even he came away impressed.

"He got one (hittable pitch) and he just missed it. I said, 'Oof, thank you,''' said Ramos, who pitched five innings in the combined shutout. "After that I was able to make the right pitch. But from what I've seen on video, he doesn't miss many mistakes. He's kind of like (Miguel) Cabrera. They can hit the ball out of any park in any direction because they know they're so strong.''

Comparing a rookie 29 games into his major league career to the two-time defending AL MVP might sound outlandish, but there are some distinct parallels.

Miggy-esque?

The same year Cabrera won the AL Triple Crown, in 2012, Abreu fell just short of the same feat in the Cuban league for the second year in a row. Both right-handed hitters are in the 6-4, 250-pound range, and they're known for their proclivity for driving the ball to the opposite field. Eight of Abreu's home runs have come on pitches middle out.

In addition, both were teenage shortstops who outgrew the position, moved to third base and gave the outfield a try before settling in at first base.

Abreu is taken aback to learn about the similarities but is not buying the comparisons.

"I think Miguelito's career is beyond compare,'' Abreu said. "You can't even explain hitters like him and (Albert) Pujols. What I told them was, 'You hit because you want to. You can do whatever you want.'''

Abreu's presence has yet to awaken the White Sox dormant fan base â?? they rank next-to-last in the majors with an average of about 17,000 a game â?? but it has helped revive an offense that was largely comatose last season.

Chicago's 5.46 runs per game is tied for second in the majors and represents an improvement of nearly two runs a game over last season, when it averaged 3.69 runs â?? 29th out of 30 teams â?? and finished last in the AL Central at 63-99.

Rays manager Joe Maddon pointed to several reasons for the enhanced output â?? Ramirez, Viciedo and catcher Tyler Flowers are hitting much better, and new center fielder Adam Eaton has proven a catalyst at the leadoff spot â?? before circling back to Abreu.

"Saying all that, the guy at first base makes all the difference in the world. One guy can make that kind of impact on a team,'' Maddon said, citing Cabrera's arrival in Detroit and Mike Trout's emergence with the Los Angeles Angels as similar cases.

"There's always these prodigy kind of players that when they show up â?¦ it's a combination of great work ethic and calm, and the ability to go out there and perform. That's what I see with him. I heard about his work ethic. He's extremely calm.''

Likewise, Hahn can breathe easier . Two months after Abreu and his wife, Yusmary, defected from Cuba in August, Hahn did not hesitate to trump rival bidders.

Scouts generally regarded Abreu as a better overall hitter than Puig and fellow Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes of the Oakland Athletics â?? who commanded deals for $42 million and $36 million, respectively â?? but not nearly as good an athlete.

The bidding for Abreu, who had an extensive track record of elite production in international and Cuban competition, started at $40 million, and the White Sox initially thought it wouldn't rise much above that. They were soon proven wrong, as the minimum price moved up to $50 million and then beyond. In the end, four other clubs offered upward of $60 million.

The White Sox were coming off their worst season since 1970 and their attendance had declined for a seventh consecutive year, so team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf ultimately approved the expenditure, though not before questioning his management team's sanity more than once.

"He understood this was precisely the type of risk we needed to take given where we were as an organization,'' said general manager Rick Hahn, who had traded away the hefty contracts of pitcher Jake Peavy and outfielder Alex Rios to open up payroll space. "You go back 11 months and we needed an injection of youth and an injection of energy, and we needed to create some financial flexibility.''

Laid-back slugger

Abreu's soft-spoken, laid-back persona presents a jarring contrast with the mercurial Puig, four years younger and infinitely more unbridled. As natives of the southern coastal city of Cienfuegos, both played for the team of the same name and defected on back-to-back years.

But even though the Dodgers and White Sox share a spring training ballpark in Arizona and their camps sit across from each other, the former pals met only once all spring, before an exhibition game.

Without going into details, Abreu hints at a falling out.

"He hasn't communicated again with me and I'm not going to try either. I don't have his phone number,'' Abreu said. "I don't know, people in this system are strange. If you don't have time to talk, you don't have time to call me, then I don't either. I don't want to bother anybody. We were friends there (in Cuba). I don't understand.''

And though he sounds upset about the distancing, Abreu has bigger concerns. There are the constant adjustments every player faces, the cultural adaptation and especially the tricky matter of learning English.

"How do you pronounce a word one way and then spell it a different way?'' he said. "I don't get that.''

And like all Cubans who leave the Communist regime, Abreu worries about the relatives he left behind, including a 3-year-old son from his first marriage named Dariel Eduardo.

Abreu is extremely close with his parents, Jose Abreu and Daisy Correa, who have left Cuba but have not made it stateside. They are presumed to be in Haiti or the Dominican Republic trying to get legal entry into the U.S.

Without revealing their whereabouts, Abreu said they're safe, and his mother â?? who urged him to defect and picked his distinctive No. 79 â?? watches all the White Sox games online.

"It's very hard (being apart), but when you're playing baseball, you have to put that aside and do your best,'' Abreu said. "So even if she's away, she can be pleased with what her son is doing.''